Best Care Anywhere
by TorontoBatFan
Summary: A response to Makokam's fic challenge. A patrol is cut short when Mindy comes down with the flu.


_Greetings dear readers._

_Welcome to my submission for Makokam's fic challenge. I hope everyone likes it. I don't think it's my best work, but it's not too bad IMHO._

_I love me some reviews. :-D_

_And awayyy we go._

* * *

Mindy hadn't looked or sounded right all evening, Dave thought to himself. Her voice had seemed rough and she lacked her usual enthusiasm for their patrol. He'd even broached the subject of them staying in that night. Mindy's reaction to that idea, however, curtailed that plan.

"What fuck do you mean? I'm fine!" She'd said with a glare.

Once on patrol, however, Dave was given reason to worry. Mindy was constantly coughing and moving far slower than normal. Dave was starting to get worried. But, it was when they surprised two punks trying to boost a car in Jackson Heights that Dave realized he had to put his foot down.

It was a two-on-two fight, which was nothing new. What was new was that Dave had taken out his opponent well before Mindy could do the same with hers. In fact, Dave thought that he was going to have to step in and help before Mindy finally laid her opponent on the ground.

Dave knelt down to secure the punk's hands with a set of wrist ties. When he looked up, he saw that Mindy was leaning against a streetlight as if she needed it to hold her up. That clinched it for Dave.

"Ok. That's it. We're done for the night."

"What the hell are you talking about? We still have to cover…" Mindy started to say before she was cut off by a spasm of coughing.

"That's what I'm talking about. You're in no shape to be out here tonight."

"I'm fine! I'm just a little stuffed up!" Mindy retorted as they cut through an alley to where they'd parked the Mistmobile.

"You don't sound fine." Dave said. He took his glove off and held it to her head. "Shit, you're burning up."

"You're nuts. I'm freezing, if anything." Mindy said with an unconscious shiver in the cold January night.

"Mindy, you've got a fever. We're heading home now!"

"Make me!" Mindy said defiantly.

"Ok" Dave said. With one smooth motion, he'd picked her up in a fireman's carry and toted her –despite her struggles and vocal threats of death- to the car.

"Dave, this is fucking stupid!" She protested as he got into the driver's seat, ratcheting it back to accommodate his much taller frame.

"No it's not! You're sick! You've been coughing all night. You barely were able to handle that guy back there. If we don't go home now, you're liable to get yourself hurt."

"I'm just having an off night."

"I just carried you back to the car and I'm in one piece. If you were healthy, do you think I could've done it that easily?"

Mindy started to protest, but realized the truth in what he said. She'd been feeling like shit since that afternoon. The flu had swept through the school in the last couple of weeks and most of the cheerleading squad had been laid up with it. Angela had come down sick with it the day before. Mindy suspected she'd caught it from her. And Dave was right. She was far from her top form, making her a liability for the both of them. Mindy sighed and held her head in her hand.

"Ok. You fucking win. Just take me home."

Dave just smirked and started the car.

When the duo arrived (after leaving the Mistmobile in its parking location) at Marcus and Mindy's house, Dave noted that the house was dark, save for the porchlight, and Marcus' car was gone.

"Marcus is working the night shift?"

"He's actually in Albany tonight and tomorrow. He's testifying at the hearing of some dickhead who's appealing his conviction."

"You shouldn't be alone."

"Stop me if you've heard this before: I'll be fine!" Mindy started to say, but was cut off by another spasm of coughing that caused her to double over, holding her knees for support.

As the coughs subsided, Mindy felt a new –and quite pleasant- chill as Dave put his arm over her.

"You're not ok and I'm not leaving." He said with the quiet determination that Mindy had long since recognized as an indication that Dave would not be dissuaded.

"Fine" She sighed, as she realized she felt far too crappy to argue the point.

As they unlocked the door and went in, Dave directed Mindy to go upstairs and shower. Despite her generally feeling like something that had oozed out of the sewers –or New Jersey- Mindy couldn't help herself.

"Do you think it's safe for me to shower all by myself? You might have to give me a sponge bath, or get in the shower with me or something. I might just swoon and hit my head." Mindy said with faux drama and a smirk, resulting in Dave giving an exaggerated sigh and an eye roll. It was worth a shot, Mindy thought as she pulled herself upstairs to undress.

As Mindy pulled off the loose fitting clothing that she'd hastily put on over her costume, she began to shiver as another wave of chills hit her. She realized then that she really was in no condition to be anywhere other than home right now.

A hot shower made her feel somewhat better. As she turned the water off, Mindy briefly toyed with the idea of calling to Dave and asking him to help her out of the tub. However, she realized that Dave would most likely freak out over having to do that and it would most unlikely that he'd want to take her on the bathroom floor. She supposed that it was a good thing though, as she really felt so crappy that even the thought of her and Dave screwing in the shower didn't turn her on like it usually did.

Mindy pulled on her –purple- sleepshirt and returned to her bedroom. She sat down heavily on her bed, as she berated herself for getting sick and failing on patrol that night.

"Mindy?" Dave's voice called from downstairs "Are you done in the shower?"

"I'm all done. I'm up here on my bed…waiting!" She called back with a leering smirk.

"Good. It's all set."

"What's all set?" Mindy called back as she heard Dave coming up the stairs.

Her question was answered as she saw Dave enter her room, carrying a tray that appeared to have a bowl of soup on it.

"Well, come on…Get into bed." Dave said.

"You're saying you want me in bed?" Mindy said with a flirtatious smile. Dave just sighed patiently.

"Yes, I want you in bed. That's why I brought up the tray."

Mindy raised her eyebrows and complied, making sure Dave got a good look at her bare legs as she slid them under the covers. Now, she thought to herself, she only had to get him to say those words when she was healthy and she had him partially undressed and it would be all set.

Dave set the tray down on the bed as Mindy propped herself up on the pillows. She saw what was in the bowl and looked up at Dave.

"This is the bean soup your dad made."

"Yeah, you need something in you."

"Marcus will be ticked. I think he was hoping there'd be some left when he got home." Mindy said as she began to eat.

"You're sick…You get first dibs."

"I love the sausage." Mindy said, suppressing a smirk at the unintended double-entendre. In truth, she'd developed a real appreciation for some of the dishes Dave's father made and had come to greatly like Polish recipes. As for Marcus, he now loved Polish cooking so much that he joked about being a honourary Polish-African-American.

"My dad says it's the key ingredient. He gets it from a Polish butcher over on Flushing Avenue."

"He'll have to come over when I make haggis next time." Mindy said with a smirk.

Dave suppressed a shudder. He felt no guilt in hoping Mindy wouldn't be recovered in time to try and concoct her annual haggis on Robbie Burns Day; the previous year he and Marcus had barely been able to stomach (pardon the expression) the Scots traditional dish Mindy had made for them. This year, she planned to invite Angela and Jessi over as well.

"Yeah…I'll tell him." Dave said, as he planned to warn his father so Casimir could come up with an excuse in time.

"Thanks for the soup. I guess I didn't realize how hungry I was." Mindy said as she finished it.

"Anytime. Whenever I got sick when I was younger, I used to love having it."

"Did your mom make it for you then?"

"Yeah, my dad really didn't get into cooking too much until after she died."

"When I was with my dad, and I got sick, he used to always say that superheroes don't get sick and I should be tougher." Mindy said as she coughed again.

"He did?"

"Yeah…But then a half-hour later, he'd make some alphabet soup and Jell-O for me and then we'd watch John Woo movies or reruns of the old _Batman_ show together. He loved that show." Mindy said as she remembered.

"I could tell." Dave replied dryly.

"It was like my dad just wanted me to be tough and didn't want to let up at all. But, when he saw that I was sick he just couldn't make himself follow through and keep pushing me. He just forgot all about getting ready for The Mission and just let himself be my dad for a few days until I was better. I never told him this, but I used to like being sick when I was little. I liked just being able to not do anything for a few days." Mindy said as she settled back against her pillows.

"Hey, even you can't go to the limit all the time. That's why we take some nights off once in a while." Dave said as he tried to reconcile the image of the driven Big Daddy against the image of Damon Macready making Mindy some Jell-O and watching television with her. He found himself wishing he'd had the chance to get to know her father outside of his Big Daddy persona.

Mindy sneezed violently just then, and Dave handed her a box of tissues which she helped herself to.

"What do you think your dad would say to how we operate now?" Dave asked once Mindy had sneezed a few more times.

"I think he'd have been really proud that you decided to keep doing it. And I think he'd have been really happy to see how good you've gotten."

"Well, that's all because of you. I'd still be nothing but a punching bag if it wasn't for you."

"What was I supposed to do? Let you keep being a total pussy the rest of your life?" Mindy asked with a smile. She actually thought that Dave had exceeded her wildest expectations in how good he could be. She fully expected that with another year of work, he would easily be her equal in terms of fighting ability.

"Think your dad would've been surprised?"

"Maybe; he'd have stopped calling you 'Ass-Kicked' for sure."

"How often did he do that?"

"Pretty much all the time; it's what he first called you when we watched that video of you outside the donut shop. But, he had kind of a weird sense of humour. He thought you had a lot of guts going out like that and I think he'd have really gotten to like you." Mindy said as she idly wondered how Damon would've reacted to learning just HOW she felt about Dave now. She honestly had no idea how he would've handled it. Most fathers, she knew, reacted fairly badly on learning their little girls liked a boy. But with Damon Macready…Mindy thought that she probably would've slipped him a sedative before telling him. She would've hated to have seen Dave handcuffed in that car compactor while her dad asked what his intentions were towards her.

"What would he have said about you being a cheerleader?" Dave asked with a chuckle.

Mindy rolled her eyes at the thought. "Now that would've been a problem. I think he might've had a total freak-out and not freaked back in again."

"But you're so good when you do it."

"You've been watching?" Mindy said, as she felt a thrill at the idea of Dave seeing her go through the routines in her cheerleading outfit.

"Yeah, I think you're the best on the whole team." Dave said with a smile.

"I still can't believe I'm actually a cheerleader." Mindy said in an amazed tone of voice.

"Todd and Marty had a hard time believing it too." Dave said. "I saw Katie do a double-take the first time she saw you in your outfit in the hallway."

"Really?" Mindy asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Oh yeah, I think she was jealous." Dave said with a grin. "She tried out for the cheerleading squad in her freshman and sophomore years and didn't even make it as an alternate."

The only thing that stopped Mindy from giving a maniacal laugh like an evil overlord was another spell of sneezing. Take that bitch, she thought to herself.

"What about Riley? Was she a cheerleader in high school?" Mindy asked. She thought that Riley would probably have had the entire crowd watching her –at least all the guys in the audience- with her amazingly endowed bosom and her tendency to leave her top buttons undone.

"I never asked. I know she said she was always busy with school, a part-time job and dating." Dave said.

Of course, Mindy thought to herself. Why would Riley NEED to be a cheerleader? She had every guy practically drooling over already. Yet, she still found it impossible to hate Riley.

She sighed. "Speaking of which, don't you have plans with her, or something?"

"Nah, she had to cover a shift when someone else called in sick. I'm good to stay here." Dave said with a smile.

A little while later, Mindy was woken from a light sleep by the sound of coughing. She rubbed her eyes and saw Dave sitting at her computer, apparently checking his e-mail.

"Did I wake you? Sorry." Dave said in a rough voice.

"It's fine. Are you OK?"

Dave seemed to ignore the question. "Well, it seems this bug has done with The Motherfucker and his Cunts have been unable to do so far."

"What's that?"

"Neutralize Justice Forever."

"Huh?"

"Almost everyone is in bed sick: The Guardian, The Gentleman, Alice, John…"

"Fuck, I hope that shithead Motherfucker doesn't try something just now."

"Well, there's been nothing heard from them for a couple of weeks either. Maybe they're all sick too."

"I guess it would be too much to hope for that The Motherfucker dies from it."

"I suspect it would be." Dave said before he had another spasm of coughing that sounded very similar to how Mindy had sounded.

"Aw hell, don't tell me…" Mindy began.

"I'm alright."

"Come here."

"I'm fine…"

"Come. Here." Mindy said in a tone that would not tolerate dissent. Dave complied. Mindy propped herself up in bed and felt Dave's forehead. "Shit. You've got a fever yourself."

"Yeah, I don't feel that great." Dave admitted weakly.

"That's what you get from staying here to look after me." Mindy sighed.

"I'm not that bad. I'll head on home later and…"

"No fucking way. It's coming down sleet outside. You're staying here."

"But…"

"Don't you even fucking think about arguing with me." Mindy said as she scooted over to one side and pulled back the covers. "Get in."

"No, I'll make it home…" Dave began to say, but stopped when he saw the glare Mindy was giving him. He sighed, pulled off his sweat pants and crawled into bed next to Mindy. Once his head was on the pillows, he let out a tired breath. "Thanks"

"You need some rest too, you know. You push yourself way too hard."

"Look who's talking."

"Quiet!" Mindy commanded. "Try to get some sleep" She said as she wrapped herself around Dave and put her head on his chest. He was asleep within minutes. With one hand, Mindy reached over to the night table and picked up her cell phone….

Angela lay in her bed, watching _Glee_ on DVD as she sipped ginger-ale in between spells of sneezing. Her cell phone chimed just then. She picked it up and found a text from Mindy.

"_How're you feeling?_"

"_Horrible_" Angela replied.

"_Tell me about it. I've got it now…and so has Dave_" Mindy texted.

"_Sorry_" Angela replied with a sad-faced emoticon. Mindy's reply puzzled her.

"_Don't worry about it. I'll thank you later." _Mindy said, with a smiley faced emoticon.

Mindy set her phone back down on the table and rested her head against Dave. Being sick, she decided, didn't have to be so bad if you had the right company. Dave really provided the best care anywhere. Plus, she had Dave in her bed now. All she had to do, she thought, was duplicate the feat when they were both healthy, she thought with a smile.


End file.
